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Welcome to the A590 Now Campaign - Bypass realised - traffic flowing!
£35.3 million bypass open, 8th April 2008
This bypass is open - carrying 15,000 vehicles day, including 2,000 HGV’s as a result High and Low Newton now have 5.5m vehicles and three quarters of a million lorries less a year.The severely sub-standard former trunk road that was described by the Coroner as a ‘very unforgiving stretch of road with no margin for error’ is no more.
The new A590 hugs the hillside and the scheme improves safety for all road users, saving up to 3.5 minutes on journey times and contributes to providing the Furness and South Lakeland area with a modern road that can aid economic recovery and investment. It is a good, high quality investment befitting of the National Park and marks an important achievement by the whole community working together to lobby for new investment.
The High Low Newton bypass was opened to traffic on tuesday 8th April 2008 by the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, Mr Archie Robertson at 11.15 am.
A community celebration on 12th April ( Sponsored by Furness Enterprise Ltd, Kimberly-Clark and TDG Ltd, three organisations who have been amongst the main lobbyists for the bypass to be built ) commemorated the opening of the bypass.
Construction was started on 26th July 2006 at a special ceremony where Mary Long the oldest resident (then aged 88) of Valley View, High Newton and one of the youngest residents, Claire Fletcher (then aged 11) (pictured below) dug the first turf.
Mary was born at Valley View as was her daughter, Janet. Valley View used to be the village shop which Mary ran until it closed about 12 years ago.
Claire and her family live in High Newton. Her grandfather, Jim Dixon, has been involved in campaigns to build the bypass for the last thirty years and gave evidence on behalf of residents at the Public Inquiries in the 1970's and 1993.
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| Mary Long & Clare Fletcher |
Mary and Clare start construction |
Contractors Laing O’Rourke (originally appointed to build the bypass under an early contractor involvement scheme, in July 2005) are building the bypass under Simon Russel's project management. Laing are based at the contractors site area at the south east end of the bypass route (Low Newton) end of the bypass. At the peak of construction they employed around 130 people,many of them local residents.
Construction Subcontract Opportunities
Construction sub contract opportunities were handled by Karen Geoghegan, Procurement Manager ([email protected]) and go to Construction or click on the Contractors Wanted section of the website at the top of this page. Furness Enterprise provided a contractors guide to local firms capabilities to support construction local procurement.
Construction Job Opportunities In the first weeks of the project vacancies for a receptionist, site secretary, quality control inspector and storeperson were filled by local people. We provided details of vacancies for site labourers with the main contractor Laing O'Rourke on the website.
Throughout the life of the project, Laing O'Rourke and their main subcontractors required a range of skills including:
- Administrators
- Secretaries
- Security
- Yard staff
- Plant operators
- Stores/warehouse staff
- Cleaners
- General labourers
The Campaign Background
The case for a bypass of High and Low Newton was first published by Government in 1976, and Furness Enterprise began to lobby for improving the A590 when the development agency was formed in 1991.We gave evidence at the 1993 public local inquiry into the scheme, which was approved by the Secretary of State For Transport in November 1994. David Jamieson MP, the the then Roads Minister gave the go ahead for funding the scheme in 2004.
The A590 NOW! lobby campaign was set up in the mid 1990s after the agency reviewed what was needed most on the route of the A590. It aimed to persuade HM Government to fund a bypass of High and Low Newton on the A590 in South Cumbria because it was one of the worst lengths of the route for accidents.
The A590 through High Low Newton is described as being 'Severely Substandard'. Between 1988 and 2002 there were 18 fatal accidents on the 3 mile stretch of busy trunk road. Bypassing the villages will open up a unique opportunity to recreate a traditional Lakeland village at High Newton, largely free of traffic.
On 28th July 2005 the Highways Agency awarded an Early Contractor Involvement Contract to Laing O'Rourke for design construction of the bypass to a design approved at their public inquiry in 1993. As design work matured it became clear by the end of 2005 that the cost of the bypass would be higher than £22m original budget.
The A590 NOW campaign then focused on persuading government that they should make extra money available. The Department of Transport had earlier added the Bypass to the English National Trunk Road Programme, on the 29th October 2003. On 12 April 2006, Ministers approved the additional funding, citing a build cost of £35.5m.
Work on the build ran from 26 July 2006 until now, 8 April 2008.
The A590 Now! campaign is an alliance comprising High and Low Newton village residents association, a network of Furness and South Cumbria based Local Employers, Furness Enterprise Partnership, the local authorities for Barrow in Furness Borough, South Lakeland District and Cumbria County Councils, the Parish Council for Upper Alithwaite, The Rt. Hon. John Hutton MP, Tim Farron MP, Northwest Regional Development Agency, Cumbria Police and Northwest Regional Assembly.
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